Nurses often have to swaddle babies upon whom medical procedures, such as echocardiograms, are being performed as well as babies under medical observations. Swaddling keeps the babies warm and semi-immobile. Further, swaddling babies can keep the babies calm. To swaddle a baby, a square swaddling blanket is folded in half along its diagonal to create a triangular shape with three cornered sides. The baby is laid on the blanket with its head just above the fold in the blanket with a cornered side above each shoulder and one cornered side below the baby's feet. One cornered side of the folded blanket is folded over the shoulder of the baby and tucked around the baby. The cornered side below the feet is then folded up towards the baby and placed over the first folded cornered side, thereby covering the baby's feet. The last cornered side is then folded over the other shoulder and the other folded cornered sides. While the baby is tightly packaged and immobile, the baby's body is inaccessible unless the baby is “unswaddled.” A baby swaddled in this manner cannot have medical devices such as a pulse oximeter, which measures the percentage of oxygen in the blood, attached to a finger or toe of the baby during a procedure, such an echocardiogram. Normally, with babies, medical devices such as a pulse oximeter are attached to their toes. However, with a conventional swaddling blanket, the base is folded up over the feet and then wrapped around the body as described above. This configuration covers up the feet and prevents access to the toes.
A need exists for a wrap that allows a baby to be snugly wrapped in a position for the test and also provides easy access to the baby's body where a medical device can be precisely positioned, if desired.